Winteringham Local History and Genealogy

Winteringham’s Best Weekend Ever?

Posters for the weekend events by courtesy of Val Peill and Sandra Clayton.
The sports were to take place in Mr Burkill’s Town End Field, where there was a “splendid grass track”.

The crowd at the sports. Cutting kindly supplied by Valerie Mercer.

From Saturday 13th to Monday 15th July 1907, must have been one of the greatest weekend’s in
Winteringham’s history. Traditionally the 14th July had been the date of Winteringham Fair - a tradition going back centuries according to the various directories, and whether the opening of
the North Lindsey Light Railway from West Halton to Winteringham was planned deliberately for this weekend is a matter of conjecture. If not, then it was a happy coincidence!

The very first passenger train steamed into Winteringham Station on Saturday
13th - a village sports special. It had left Scunthorpe at 3:45 pm, and returned from Winteringham at 10:30 pm. There were 254 passengers on the Saturday
special, which was made up of an engine and six carriages. The very first ticket was bought by Mr J Nicholson of Scunthorpe, which entitled him to a 5s
prize from the Sports Committee, which also awarded a prize for the purchaser of ticket number 77 - Mr T Watson, also of Scunthorpe. The train disgorged its crowds of passengers on the
pristine station platform before they all posed for the obligatory celebratory photographs (there are more than one in existence), then off to the sports and fair! (click photo for larger version).
The “New Winteringham Station” was claimed to be “close by” the sports field in the pre-event advertising.

Meanwhile two ferries - the Isle of Axholme and the Atalanta, operated by East Coast Passenger Service Ltd, had set off from Hull Victoria Pier. Their departure time had been advertised as
2:30 pm, but they had reached their passenger limit well before this, so set off early! Return fares were 1s, with cycles an additional 6d. Reserved seats on the bridge could be had for a
further 6d, and there were also refreshments available on board. They were due to leave Winteringham to return to Hull at 8:30 pm. They tied up on the southern bank of the Humber just
east of the Haven mouth, and after some trepidation from the passengers regarding disembarkation onto the mud, Routh and Waddinghams came up with the solution of duck boards. (Click here and here for photos). The sports ground (Mr Burkill’s Town End field) was
advertised as being “a five-minute walk from the landing.” On the Atalanta was a band - believed to be the East Hull Prize Silver Band. They entertained at the sports and fair that day (Saturday)
and gave a concert on the Sunday. This concert was advertised as a “Grand Sacred Concert.” Sundays were supposedly a day when no work or entertainment took place, however, provided
that the concert was of SACRED music, then this was OK! As can be seen from the programme of music printed on the reverse of the cards, most of the music played would stretch the meaning
of the word “sacred!”

A poster advertised this event with running races, cycle races, tug of war, high jump, (all with
quite valuable prizes of over £40). There was a 2 mile championship cycle scratch race. On Monday local sports were held.(the sports on Saturday must have been open to everyone.) (This
information from Sandra Clayton and Val Peill)

P Lowson advertised that “Tea and Refreshments” would be provided at the Old Mill, close by
the grounds, for a moderate charge and also offered good sheltered storage for bicycles.

Monday saw the first timetabled passenger train steam into the station, again crowded with
people, and again photographs of the event were taken (unhelpfully also labelled “The First Train into Winteringham Station”).

On this occasion, the first ticket was bought by Mr R I Swaby, and ticket 77 by someone simply
described as a “local pig iron carrier” whose name we don’t have. Mrs Popplewell had the first
“privilege ticket,” whilst Mr Dain from Normanby bought the first ever ticket for luggage on the line
when he paid for his cycle. Presumably Mr Dain is the gentleman with cycle on the post cards. The prizes for tickets 1, and 77 (which seems to be a general rule) were paid for by the railway
company on this occasion.

Below are featured postcards of a variety of subjects, none of which has anything to do with Winteringham, nor even Hull (apart from one of the band itself). However, each one is
overprinted on the reverse with details of a “Grand Sacred Concert” at Winteringham on Sunday July 14th 1907, so perhaps these were on sale in the village at the time to aid band funds. The
exception is the post card of the band itself, and a handwritten message on the reverse.

Hull East Prize Silver Band - played at Winteringham on July 13th and 14th 1907

The Hull East Prize Silver Band ask Mr A Park of Ravendale Road Scunthorpe for a place to
practice before a contest. This is the reverse side of the card above.

Each postcard below was printed with this detail of the Grand Sacred Concert on the reverse (see below for enlarged version)

Sir Thomas Lipton

Kinnaird Head

Off Monkseaton

The Lizard Head

Unknown Edwardian Beauty

Another unknown Edwardian Beauty

(NB: This is not an original poster, but a “copy” produced to look as similar as possible to the original)

Note that this is for the “official” opening of passenger services on the Monday following the First
Train - the Sports Special. The fares are at the exact rate of 1d a mile. “Parliamentary” trains had been required to provide third class travel at 1d a mile in the Railway Act of 1844.
Eventually second class was phased out for almost all rail travel, hence giving rise to rail journeys being First Class or Third Class.

Note that the list of times in the poster are laid out as on the original - they are centre-formatted
and with no “0” in the tens of minutes column, giving an unusual appearance to our modern expectations of a timetable layout.